It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's A... Cosmic Particle Coming Towards Earth From 'Shadow Blaster' Galaxy

Published 26 June 2026 · science

It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's A... Cosmic Particle Coming Towards Earth From 'Shadow Blaster' Galaxy Published By, Last Updated: June 26, 2026, 22:30

It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's A... Cosmic Particle Coming Towards Earth From 'Shadow Blaster' Galaxy Published By, Last Updated: June 26, 2026, 22:30 IST Astronomers have found that a ghostly cosmic particle coming towards the Earth originated from a galaxy nicknamed the "Shadow Blaster". Rapid Read Astronomers traced a neutrino to a galaxy 11 billion light years away. (AI-Generated Image) Astronomers have found that a ghostly cosmic particle coming towards the Earth originated from a galaxy nicknamed the “Shadow Blaster", located 11 billion light-years away. The discovery is believed to be a remarkable step towards understanding neutrinos, the mysterious particles in space that contain no electric charge, have little mass and don’t seem to interact with other types of matter, according to CNN. Scientists are yet to uncover where neutrinos come from, or why they are reluctant to interact with matter. While supernovae, nuclear reactions and the breakdown of heavy particles could create neutrinos, tracing where they come from has proven difficult for astronomers.

However, the Taiwan-based astronomical research firm MITOS Science Co. Ltd. luckily detected a high-energy neutrino on Earth, which they traced back to the Shadow Blaster galaxy, according to their study published on June 17. The discovery could lead to a new way to search for the origins of neutrinos, often called ghost particles. Antarctica’s IceCube Neutrino Observatory is the unique device located at the South Pole that is used in detecting neutrinos. How Was The Galaxy Found? In 2021, the IceCube detector detected the presence of a high-energy neutrino, which happens every two to three years. The event that created the neutrino, named IC 210922A, appeared to occur in the direction of the Eridanus constellation, and scientists quickly carried out observations to locate its origin point, which proved to be unsuccessful. However, days later, the team at MITOS Science carried out observations with the East Asian Observatory’s James Clerk Maxwell Telescope as well as the Submillimeter Array, and discovered a galaxy rich with star formation called JCMT0402−0424.

As per the CNN report, the galaxy contained trillions of times the luminosity of the Sun in infrared light, and was positioned in the right location to be potentially connected to the neutrino. The team nicknamed the galaxy Shadow Blaster, because it is filled with dust, making it nearly invisible in optical light, Can It Produce Neutrinos? Astronomers believe that galaxies like the Shadow Blaster can provide the gas, radiation and magnetic environments that act like particle accelerators to produce neutrinos. “Star-forming galaxies are galaxies that produce many stars, some of which are massive and burn out quickly, exploding in supernovae, likely accelerating cosmic rays in the process," said Justin Vandenbroucke, professor in the physics department and the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Centre. Urata also said star-forming galaxies like Shadow Blaster could be key source of high-energy neutrinos. News18 Newsletter Handpicked stories, in your inbox A newsletter with the best of our journalism submit About the Author Aveek Banerjee Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18.